The Crow: Star Fox
by SkullFox
Summary: Basically the movie just with characters form star fox...I'll be adding my own touches here and there, but for the most part I'm simply staying true to the movie. Rated M for blood, violence, drug use, and harsh language...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay...so I was board and for some reason decided to watch my favorite movie to cheer me up because of my writer's block. While I was watching the movie I thought...Hey this would make a cool cross-over so here it is. Some people may not like it but...it helps my writer's block so I just thought I'd put it up here. It's easy enough to follow, since I've seen the movie like 5 million times. Anyhow thanks for putting up with the constant crap...**

**The footsteps in the darkness - SkullFox

* * *

**Disclamer: I do not own any rights to The Crow or Star Fox.

**The Crow: Star Fox**

_People once believed that when they died a crow carried their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that the soul carries a terrible sadness with it, and the soul cannot rest, and sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring that soul back, to put the wrong things right._

**--October 30****th**** - Devil's Night--**

The sirens blare out of control as the officer stares out over the city, it could never have been called a peaceful place. The black furred panther looks about at the scene of a horrendous crime, one man shot and thrown through a fifth story window, and a blue furred vixen, raped, beaten, and slowly bleeding to death on the floor of the apartment. The firefighters across the street battle a raging fire set to the building adjacent to the one he's standing in. As the police search the area they dust for prints and any other kind of clues through the ransacked apartment, while several paramedics tend to the bleeding blue vixen laying on the floor, barely clinging to life. As the panther looks out over the city that has fallen so far into darkness he notices a black bird, a crow perching on a power line in the dark streets, it cocks it's head curiously at him before looking down to the fallen fox in the streets. It's eyes seemingly full of curiosity it lets out and eerie caw before leaping from it's perch and gliding off. The black panther turns away from the large circular window that the fox outside had been thrown through, and as he looks over things he lets out a depressed sigh...the couple was so young. A small piece of paper catches his eye as he picks it up from the bloody floor. It's a wedding invitation for the two vulpine's up coming wedding...Their names clearly visible through the blood...Fox McCloud and Krystal Fox. He sighs again as he drops the bloody piece of paper. Another officer, a white furred wolf calls to him from a short distance across the room, where he stands next to a beautifully tailored white lace dress...

"Hey Sarge..." He calls cocking his head toward the dress.

The panther makes his way to the dress stand, "Yeah. Krystal Fox and Fox McCloud. Wedding was tomorrow night."

The wolf looks a bit confused, "Who the fuck gets married on Halloween anyhow?"

The panther develops a sad tone to his voice, "Nobody...that was the point."

A golden furred cat in a blue paramedic's uniform rushes to the panther, "Sir? I'm sorry but we gotta move her."

The panther looks to the beaten blue vixen who gasps in pain, "Do it!" He commands without hesitation.

The paramedic rushes back to his colleagues who still tend to Krystal, "Right, guys. Let's get her outta here."

As the paramedics rush the blue vixen out to the waiting ambulance the Sargent somberly walks toward the shattered window overlooking the dead body of Fox McCloud...

"Devil's fuckin' night!" The white wolf says with a hint of anger to his voice, "What's the count so far?"

"A hundred and forty-three fires." The panther answers.

The white wolf scoffs, "They're slackin' off this year."

The panther sighs while looking out at the city wondering how many more fires there are going at that very moment, "Three hours to go. Maybe they're just startin' off slow this year."

Outside the paramedics run into a large gray furred wolf wearing a long coat, his left eye covered by an eye patch. The golden shield hanging from his pocket a clear sign of his place as a detective. The black panther from upstairs can hear everything as he approaches the scene...

"I realize that , but you can't come and move her away like this. We got procedures to stick by. You guys shoulda cleared this with me first." The wolf said making his way over to the panther's side who is looking over the beaten vixen, "Is this the victim?"

The panther gives the wolf an angered look, "No. It's Amelia Earhart. We found her, detective, and you missed it."

The lupine was getting rather fed up with the panther's attitude, "I don't care what her name is, I didn't give the order to move her. Jesus, Caruso, I can see why they took away your gold shield."

The panther ignored the wolf as he still followed the paramedics toward the ambulance, "Yeah, I wasn't a big enough ass-hole." Caruso replied turning his attention to the paramedics who stopped to check the vixen's vitals again, "C'mon let's go." He demanded.

As all of this is happening Caruso notices another Crow, or is it the same one? Now perched on top of the ambulance still looking toward the body laying several yards away as several animals lay a blue sheet over the body. A young pink feline dressed in a thick denim coat rushes up on a skateboard and begins pushing the crowd out of the way and animal at a time, she can't help but to wonder what's going on she was only coming to visit her friends. As she breaks through the crowd an office attempts to stop her but the pink feline wriggles loose from his grip and rushes to the gurney carrying the horribly beaten blue vixen...

"Krystal?" She says trying to make sure the vixen is still alive.

"Stand back kid." Caruso says using a paw to push the pink cat out of the paramedic's way.

Krystal suddenly begins to rock her head to one side, "W-where's...Fox?"

Caruso cannot bring himself to tell her about her dead fiancé, "Just don't worry about him." He replies softly.

Krystal notices through her blurry vision the pink feline standing nearby, "Tell him to take care of Katt." She says weakly as they finally approach the ambulance.

Caruso looks to the young feline and back to Krystal, "Look, I will. You just...uh, lie back." He says turning toward the paramedics, "C'mon, c'mon...get her outta here."

As the paramedics load the blue vixen into the ambulance and speed off Caruso turns toward the pink feline, "You Katt?"

"Yeah." Katt replies as she watches the ambulance move out of sight.

"Look...Your sister. She's gonna be okay."

"Not my sister." Katt responds with a sigh, "Krystal just takes care of me. She's my friend...You lied to her about Fox..."

"Look, I had to." Caruso says, "She's in enough pain already."

Katt can feel the tears that burn the corners of her eyes before they begin to trail down her cheeks, "And you're lying to me about Krystal. She's gonna die isn't she?" She asks wiping her sleep across her eyes.

The panther never could stand to see a kid cry, "Hey...uh. Come on...s'okay, she's gonna be fine." He says placing his paw on Katt's shoulder hoping to comfort her, not really sure whether or not he can trust his own words.

* * *

--**ONE YEAR LATER**--

_A building gets torched, all that is left is ashes. I used to believe that was true about everything—families, friends, feelings. But now I know that sometimes, if love proves real, two people who are meant to be together—nothing can keep them apart._

The young feline, Katt, visits her fiends in their resting places daily. The church wasn't always a run down, old shit hole, it was once a place where people felt safe. The graves are all unkept, spare the two that the young feline maintains on a daily basis. She walks through the rows of the grave sites taking a few flowers from each as she cannot afford to buy any herself. She stops at the graves marked for the two that had died almost a full year ago...Fox and Krystal's graves are near the far corner of the cemetery, each of their marble gravestones baring a large final cross. She bends down and lays half of the flowers on each grave, and looks sadly to the only remembrance of the two that had taken her in so welcomely...

"I'm sorry I can't stay longer." She says almost to herself as she begins to walk away, "Later..." As she walks away a large Crow lands on the cross atop Fox's grave letting out it's eerie cry, "What the hell are you? The night watchman?" Katt asks sarcastically before pulling her hood over her short pink hair and skating off. The large black bird lets out another caw before it begins to peck at the headstone.

Several blocks away a familiar black panther sits at his favorite little hot dog stand, a dinky little sad shack on the side of the road in the middle of town with a small awning to keep the customers from getting soaked by the city's constant downpours. As Caruso sits there waiting for his food the canine inside the small stand looks to the rain...

"Y'know? What this place needs is a good natural catastrophe—earthquake, tornado...y'know." He says as he begins to fix up the feline's food.

"No, no, no, Bill, c'mon man." He says, "You gotta put the mustard underneath first."

Bill ignores him, "...Maybe a flood, like in the bible." He says imagining the tops of the buildings being the only thing left of the city being drowned by a massive flood, not paying any attention to the food.

Caruso had grown tired of waiting he was hungry and Bill was applying the fixing all wrong, "Eh, eh, lemme do it." He says taking the hot dog and pulling the mustard out of the canine's paws, "How about some onions?" He says watching as the canine begins to sprinkle the tear inducing vegitables onto the hot dog, "C'mon, don't cheap out on me, lots of onions." Bill complies dropping more onions on, "Now we're talkin'."

As he sits and begins to enjoy his food, the sound of a skateboard gathers the panther's attention, and he turns to notice a familiar pink feline who skates up and takes a seat to get out of the rain for a moment...

"Heh, it's the Katt monster." Bill says sarcastically, having known the feline for some time.

Caruso looks to the skateboard that Katt lays against the stand next to her, "How do you steer that thing on wet streets?" He asks.

"Pure talent...hi."

"See Bill, Katt, she's a genuine hot-dogger. You hungry?" Caruso asks.

"You buyin'?" Katt asks with a smile.

The black panther laughs, "I'm buyin'." He replies.

"No onions though, okay?"

Caruso can't understand the concept of a hot dog without onions, "No onions?"

"They make you fart big time." Katt replies causing the two adults to burst into laughter.

* * *

Arcade games sound off, usually a sound that brings joy to countless children, unfortunately not anymore. Over the years the city has become a place of danger and darkness, no children would dare enter the streets not at night...not alone. A red hover car pulls up along side the arcade. Four animals step out, a light cream furred fox, a taller black furred vulpine wearing a black coat, a blue feathered falcon, and a silver furred fox. The light brown, cream colored vulpine was known to the police as Funboy, and his cohorts were just as well known. The black furred vulpine known as Tin Tin, the blue falcon known as T-bird, or the silver furred fox known as Skank...all four were well known arsons, and most likely responsible for more than their fair share of the city's recent crime waves. As they stepped out of the vehicle T-bird looks over the arcade...

"You know, Lake Erie actually caught on fire once from all the crap floatin' around in it?" He says as he lights a cigar, and letting out a large breath of smoke, "Ah! I wish I coulda seen that." He says with an impressed whistle, "Yee-aah!"

As he shouts Tin Tin, and Skank begin destroying the arcade's glass windows and the games inside, while T-bird sets the timer on a small bomb...Soon the four board the red vehicle they'd all driven there in, and plow off into the night waiting for the device to take down the building...

* * *

The large bird never left it's spot sitting atop the cross that marked Fox's grave, as it watched on as Fox's grave mound begins to shake violently shaking Katt's flowers from his their place on his grave the violent shaking causes the Crow to fly off and land on a nearby tree. A moment of silence blanketed the small graveyard, but suddenly from the oddly disturbed grave a furry paw shot from the ground followed by another frantically digging and clawing at the ground until they pull up a light brownish-red furred fox. He cannot hold himself up as he stumbles to the muddy ground a cry of sheer anguish and pain shoot from his lips as he rolls about the heavily muddy ground. No idea where he is or what's going on...

T-bird's little group of miscreants tears down the streets each of them bragging to the others about their latest exploit involving the arcade they'd just left behind, As their bright red vehicle tears through the streets, anyone on the sidewalks could hear the four screaming in unison...

"Fire it up! Fire it up!"

Fox shivers and attempts to hold in whatever heat he can manage too, he cannot understand why he has not shirt or shoes, He can't understand why but he keeps following the large black bird that seems to lead him about the alleys of the city. Soon enough the bird lands on a large dumpster and begins pecking at the strings of some rather useful black boots. Confused for a moment Fox pulls the footwear from the receptacle, merely happy to have his feet out of the burning cold as his guide leads him along the near deserted streets. T-bird's car tears by the hot dog stand, at the sight of Caruso's cop car they panic and speed up...

At the sound of their tires burning out the panther shakes his head, "Bad people out tonight."

In that very second the bomb left in the arcade goes off shaking the hot dog stand, "Dammit!" Caruso shouts jumping from his seat.

"What was that?" Katt asks.

"You just wait right there." Caruso replies as he runs down the streets.

"Be careful!" Katt calls out to the officer before going back to her food.

"Bill, call it in for me." Caruso shouts as he rushes off.


	2. Chapter 2

**--Chapter 2--**

Though there are no memories to guide him to his destination, Fox stumbles aimlessly thought the alleyways in the darkness as the rains continue to fall, his only guide the mysterious bird that somehow seems to be taking him somewhere. The bird leads him up an old fire escape, half way up his numb, lifeless fingers slip nearly dropping him from the ladder. Now on the rooftops he can see a red horizon from the burning buildings, he has no idea what they are. He can only shiver and hold his arms across his chest desperately longing to keep warm. His large black guide leads him to a door and waits as if pleading him to open it, and as he does the bird takes flight leading him through the desolate halls, and down several flights of stairs ending at a familiar looking door, and for the first time in hours the freezing vulpine could only slightly remember, he knew this room but, from where? The dark brown stained door to his old apartment was no longer in place, only crime scene tape which he easily tore through. The place is nothing like it was before, things are littered everywhere, the kitchen destroyed with pots and pants strewn about the room, torn books and paper lay out over the floor, the large round spiderweb like window before him dashed to pieces some of which lay on the floor. As he stumbles around the loft apartment Fox cannot help but think that this was all familiar. Soon enough he hears a familiar sound, the meow and purr of an old friend, a white house cat he'd found on the street long ago and brought home to Krystal, for an instant he does not understand what the animal is but in almost and instant he begins to reach down to the fluffy white animal...

"Gabriel..." He says his voice only a pale whisper as he reaches down and picks up the cat.

In an instant his mind is flooded by visions, at first of a silver fox being clawed by the cat who runs off as soon as he's dropped. He grabs his head hoping to hold his splitting skull together, the visions are far to much to take in all at once. All at once he can see the scenes of that night all through Gabriel's eyes as the frightened animal hid under the bed. As the memories flood through his agonized mind he begins to stumble about the room but, soon the memories clarify...

**{Flashback}**

A familiar blue vixen sit on the small sofa the eve of the incident when she hears a knock on the door, "Fox?" She asks knowing that Fox is a devious prankster.

As she approaches the door it forced open by a blue feathered Falcon, "Department of Housing..." He half shouts holding up a piece of paper, "...Code violations...safety hazards...place looks fine to me...lets redecorate."

T-bird and his men begin ransacking the place thrashing whatever they can while, he and Skank hold Krystal to the floor, as all of this was happening T-bird picks up a book that Tin Tin kicks from the bookshelf. As he looks over the text he sees several almost biblical photos of a nude female and begins to read the scrip out loud...

"Abashed, the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely..." It's pornography. Virtue?"

As the miscreants begin to defile the poor vixen tearing at her clothes a familiar voice breaks though as the door opens, "Krystal?"

As Fox pushes the door open knife pierces his gut, Tin Tin being known as an expert knife thrower, "See Ya!" Tin Tin shouts as he falls helplessly to the floor.

As he's forced to watch the four force themselves onto Krystal he somehow finds his way from writhing on the floor in pain to his feet, pulling out Tin Tin's knife and throwing it aside. Krystal tries her hardest to reach out to Fox, but T-bird lets out a shrill whistle. Tin Tin and Skank both take the weakened and bleeding fox by the arms and hold him near the window, his body in the room involuntarily mimicking the motions as he relives them in his mind. T-bird approaches the helpless fox with a large revolver, Funboy shoots him twice in the chest with a smaller weapon before T-bird fires his larger weapon, and kicks the still half living body through the large window. As his memories flood back to him of that nigh the fox is overcome by anger and runs toward the window leaping outward before taking hold of one of the broken bars along the top of it's peculiar design, swinging upward almost into a complete handstand before swinging back into the apartment on his knees. He looks to the bloody large cuts across his paws in wonder as the blood that pours down his paws seeps back into the cuts which seal and vanish as if they were never there...

**---Somewhere else in the city---**

T-bird and his friends sit in a loud bar, Funboy tosses a 9mm bullet into the air catching it in his mouth before washing it down with a shot of strong liquor...

"Hey, that's good." Skank supports him.

"See if you can top that man? Can you top that?" Funboy asks to t-bird.

The blue falcon lays a bullet on his tongue sideways showing it to everyone, "Here's to Devil's Night...my new favorite holiday." He says before swallowing the drink and bullet, he then puts his cigar out on his tongue.

In the slight background the bartender can be heard arguing with the hostess, a slightly tall female cat with a light pink fur, while Funboy slaps T-bird's arm, "You sick fuckhead." He says in disbelief to his trick with the cigar.

"You're outta your mother fuckin' mind man..." Tin Tin says while putting out his own cigar on the table, Skank starts to lift his own drink but, Tin Tin forces his paw back to the table, "Pussies drink last, man." He laughs after downing his own shot.

As the others laugh at the comment, the silver fox becomes a bit enraged and whipps out a pistol placing it to Tin Tin's temple, "Hey fuck you Tin Tin!"

Tin Tin slowly rises from his seat while placing a knife to Skank's throat, "Shit ain't even loaded man."

Suddenly Funboy stand up placing his own gun to Tin Tin's head, "This one is." He replies only to get a knife to his own throat.

Finally having enough of all the crap the blue falcon pulls two guns alternating their aim between the three, "Which one of you Motor-city motherfuckers wants to bet me this one isn't?!" He suddenly smiles, "Hey!" He shouts pulling them all to follow his chants, "Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up..."

As the four chant the three words repeatedly the feline hostess approaches, "Here's your shooters. Put your guns away, huh boys."

**---Fox's apartment---**

The little black feathered guide flaps it's wings as it runs across the ground, an innocent cockroach scurries away from the bird intent on making the insect a small meal. Fox however is lost in his memories as he sits at Krystal's old make-up dresser, an old familiar harlequin mask made of porcelain hangs from the side of a large mirror, a white face with black lines across it's eyes and lips. As he runs his paws over it's surface a small memories hits him. Krystal asleep on the sofa as Fox approaches her with the mask held to his face, "BOO!" He says half startling the poor vixen. Several more images flash by from the mask's point of view watching Fox, Krystal, and Katt all laughing. The memories fade, but for some reason he cannot stop searching, and opens one of the dressers many drawers pulling out several small photos. More memories flood his mind of him laying on the sofa in the blue vixens arms...

"I love you..." She whispers.

Fox closes his eyes, "Say that again."

Krystal smiles a bit inwardly, "I love you."

Another memory flashes by of Krystal standing over a stove trying to put out a small pan who's insides billowed a large flame into the air, Fox rushes over and quickly slaps a lid on the pot smothering the flames, After looking into the pot he laughs and puts his arm over the blue vixen's shoulders...

"Restaurant!" He says as they head toward the door.

Suddenly as he looks over the photos his fingers glide against the cover of a bridal magazine. He is flashed to a scene of Krystal in a familiar white dress, the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen, spinning in front of a large mirror, while Katt sits on their bed smelling a small bundle of roses...

"Wow..." The cat says with awe, "You look beautiful."

The scenes plow through his mind like a razor blade each one adding to the pain he felt inside; from scenes of a pillow fight with the two, to his nights with the blue vixen. Finally the rage builds to a boiling point, he can't take it anymore the pain, the memories. His fist shatters the mirror and he sweeps the top of the desk furiously scattering the candles, and photos everywhere. He reaches into the drawers pulling out several small things of make-up, he cannot be Fox McCloud anymore, Fox died with vixen he loved...he realized what he was here for, he had to make the pain go away. He looks to the mask hanging still on the mirror while he begins to use the make-up to sculpt a grim new face, one that his enemies would learn to fear, one that would let them know just how badly they'd fucked up when they had hurt her. The Crow that had guided him this far flies to an old wardrobe which the Fox throws open, a tight black long sleeve shirt is good enough for now...as he'd realized some time ago that his body would never again know warmth. As he looks over the city through the broken window the black bird lands on his shoulder, a flash of lightning highlights his form standing there looking over the city...a grim and enraged look on his face, as another flash of lightning highlights the same window he is gone however, looking for the first to pay for their crimes...

**---A pawn shop on the far end of Town---**

The black furred vulpine Tin Tin stands in front of a glass counter the shop like any other pawn shop houses a large number of heavy thing hanging from the ceiling. A fat, short, gray furred rat stands on the other side of the counter looking over whatever the vulpine is trying to pawn off on him this time...

As the rat picks up a lavishly designed gold diamond ring Tin Tin points to the others, "Couple of rings—that one's twenty-four k."

"Twenty-four huh?" The rat scoffs examining it closely, "It's eighteen k. --crap! Probably fake." He's lying of course.

Tin Tin points out a fine leather hand bag, "Another purse. Leather."

The rat looks over the small bag, "Whoa!" The rat says, "What is this Tin Tin? A bloodstain here? I'll give ya fifty bucks. I hate charities. Now take it or leave it..." He says throwing a small stack of bills on the counter, "Right there for ya...decisions, decisions."

With a pissed off look on his face Tin Tin picks up the bills, and walks away, "Cheap ass, dick brained, child molestin', saprophyte motherfucher."

"Ya whatever...just close the gate on your way out." The rat laughs.

"Ah close this up for yo' reeeeal good mastah!" Tin Tin says mimicking a slave, "Fuck you!" He says pulling the metal gate shut that houses the outside of the building, before flipping the rat off.

"Sit on it and twirl you dirty, fuck!" The rat yells in reply.

As Tin Tin stands there for a moment he looks over his shoulder, "Lucky I didn't stab your fat ass."

**---Rooftops---**

The Crow seems to be leading Fox across the rooftops, and oddly Fox finds himself running freely without becoming winded, making leaps between buildings that normally would never have been possible for him. He follows the bird across the rain drenched rooftops finally after some time coming to a stop as the bird scuttles back and forth across the ledge of the roof of the building cawing frantically as if to tell Fox something. Fox tilts his head to one side as his vision blurs...he can see a familiar looking black fox in a long black trench coat walking through the alley, who stops for a moment to light a cigarette on a fire burning in an old oil drum. It takes Fox a moment to learn that he is somehow seeing through the Crow's eyes. Fox remembering what had happened with his cuts earlier stands on the edge of the building, and leans forward falling. As he impacts the ground Fox can feel his bones shattering, but there is no pain. The laughter that echoes through the alleys from him seem almost maniacal, and send shivers up and down Tin Tin's spine. The laughter drives the black fox's attention to a far off alleyway where the only visible thing is the white pain on Fox's face...

"What the fuck you painted up for, crackhead, huh?" He asks as Fox approaches him menicingly, Tin Tin pulling two knives from under his coat, "Halloween ain't 'till manana. C'mon." He shouts kicking the burning drum toward the creepy fox.

Fox rushes in ducking past the knife in Tin Tin's paw, tackling the black fox to the ground where the two land in a large mud puddle. Tin Tin tries everything he can to get up but, the fox that has him pinned down is far more powerful than him and soon forces the knife from his grip. Fox forcefully lifts the vulpine to his feet and relentlessly tosses him to one side, Tin Tin lands against the wall with such force that it forces the wind from his lungs causing him to begin coughing uncontrollably. As Fox approaches Tin Tin punches him in that face, a strike that should have broken the fox's jaw, but Fox's head simply jolts to one side before he looks back to Tin Tin with a menacing glare before whipping the rapist and murderer around and into another nearby wall. Tin Tin retaliates by pulling another knife and swiping at Fox's chest and face, one cuts into his chest but Fox isn't stunned in the least. The black fox lands another punch but, like the last it has little effect after another swipe from Tin Tin's knife Fox slaps it out of his paw, and quickly punches Tin Tin in the gut followed by his other fist across the dark furred fox's face. The second punch causing the fox's mouth to spout blood. Fox's anger finally peaks and he spins to one side flinging Tin Tin into a brick wall across the alley, with a strength nowhere near his own. Fox is on the beaten vulpine in a matter of seconds the Crow flying about the alley cawing madly at the commotion...

"MURDERER!!" Fox screams drawing his fist back ready to crush the animals skull with the strength he'd recently discovered.

Tin Tin is half out beaten and bleeding, "I ain't murdered nobody, man! I don't fuckin' know you, man. What the fuck do you want?"

Fox shakes Tin Tin for a moment, "I want you to tell me a story. A fox and a vixen in a loft a year ago." He answered as Tin Tin's memories of raping Krystal flashed through Fox's mind.

"You're outta yo' motherfuckin' mind."

Fox slams him against the wall again, "LISTEN!" He growled angrily, "I'm sure you'll remember. You killed them...on Halloween."

Tin Tin recalled what the psychotic vulpine was talking about, "Yeah, yeah, man, look. Some dude, some bitch. What-ever man."

The insult on Krystal's part cause Fox to slap Tin Tin dragging his claws across the Fox's face, "Her name was Krystal!" He growls pinning Tin Tin's head to the wall who takes the moment to spit on Fox, "You cut her. You raped her."

As the constant stream of memories began to overwhelm Fox Tin Tin smiled...

"Krystal...yeah, I shanked her blue ass and she loved it!" The black fox shouts.

Fox draws back in anger but stalls for a moment, Tin Tin replies by head butting the fox and kicking him away. As he stands up he finds a large pipe on the ground and strikes Fox across the back several times before sticking him across the face. Tin Tin finaly throws the pipe to the ground and backs off a bit while Fox begins to stand up...

"Murderer! Murderer!" Fox's mind seems to be stuck on the fact.

"Murderer?" Tin Tin shouts backing off, "Let me tell you somethin' about murder." He says pulling two knives and expertly twirling them between his fingers, "It's fun, it's easy. You gonna learn aaall about it..." He says with a cocky chuckle as he walks a short ways away dropping his coat, "I'd like you to meet a couple buddies of mine. We never miss."

Tin Tin quickly turns throwing a knife which soars through the air but, somehow Fox ducks and the razor sharp point of the weapon embeds itself in the flats of wood behind Fox. Tin Tin, now much angrier throws another in a side ways manner, but this one is batted away by Fox's paw...

"Try harder. Try again." Fox taunts the frightened vulpine.

Tin Tin complies roaring in anger as he throws the third knife with all the force he can muster, but to his horror somehow the knife is stopped between Fox's paws mere centimeters from his face. Fox flips the knife about and throws it back which grinds through Tin Tin's shoulder causing him to scream in pain. Fox rushes over and pulls another knife from the rig that holds a mass of the blades about the black fox's chest, "Victims......aren't we all?" He asks before driving the knife into the Fox's skull.

Fox is nowhere near done, he wants people to know that the others like him will die, the last sight from the alley would be Fox walking away wearing Tin Tin's leather trench coat, heading out to find the others and hopefully put his spirit finally to rest in peace.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Warning! There is a bit of religious humor and drug use in this chapter...just sayin'...

* * *

**

**---Chapter 3---**

**--Club Trash--**

As the loud music plays pulling the crowd into it's rhythm, T-bird and Skank push their way through the mosh pit like crowd. The sounds of the band mixed with the screaming and cheering of the raving fans is nearly deafening. T-bird cannot even seem to hear his own thoughts as he pushes more people out of his way...

"Look at this mess. What's the world coming to.?" T-bird says as he stops at the bar, "I gotta go upstairs—report from the front."

The blue feathered avian begins making his way through the crowd again cursing repeatedly at the difficulty they give him on getting through, "Get outta my way ya lousy fucks!" He shouts pushing more of them out of his way.

Luckily the upstairs of the place is a lot more docile, the only animals there near a large set of double doors a large red fox wearing a black suit and shades, the right hand man of a local drug lord and criminal everyone simply calls him Grange. He chats with two young animals nearby, As he notices the blue falcon coming up the stair he turns to the two ladies...

"Why don't you two ladies come back later?"

"Hey, guess what? Arcade games fell down, went boom." T-bird says with a smile.

"Boom?" The tall fox asks.

T-bird chuckled a bit, "Can you imagine that? 'S tragic."

Grange looks to the falcon, "Gather your soldiers. You're on for tomorrow night, no sweat."

"Is The Man in?"

Grange chuckled a bit, "He's taking a "meeting"." He says with a wink.

Behind the door a dark furred vulpine, sits on well made bed cross-legged staring at a small snow globe depicting the scene of a small silent graveyard. From the distance he can hear the sounds of a far off shower where a bright red furred vixen slowly washes up. Many thoughts filter through the dark furred fox's head, about the past, the future, and most of all about the many things that have happened over the course of his life. After practically becoming the head of the city, he gained the nickname "Top Dollar"...appreciating the name so much that he simply went by it instead of his own. As he sits there the red furred vixen walks into the room wrapping herself in a light green robe...noticing the look on the dark fox's face she wrapps her arms around him before sitting next to him...

"You're thinking of the past." She half whispers understandingly.

"Dad gave me this...fifth birthday..." Top Dollar says holding up the small orb, "He said "childhood's over the moment you know you're gonna die"." He says handing the vixen the small orb.

The red vixen looks to a white furred wolf laying on the other side of the bed nude, "Is she asleep?"

Top Dollar reaches over and pulls the lupine over, by the look on her frozen face it is clear that she's dead, "I think we broke her."

The red furred vixen climbs onto the white furred she wolf with a oddly shaped dagger, "I love her eyes—so pretty." She says slowly carving them out of the animal's face.

**--The Pit--**

At the bar where T-bird and his friends had their fun earlier a familiar pink feline sails across the street on a small skateboard, "Hey kid! Get the hell outta the road!" A passing motorist shouts over his blaring horn. The young feline walks into the bar and makes her way to the table where Funboy and the bar's hostess are making out, the feline hostess sitting on his lap. Katt coughs into her paw getting the two's attention...

"I thought I told you not to come in here." The older cat says.

"So, I guess you're not gonna be home 'til a lot later, huh, Darla?" Katt asks sarcastically.

Funboy looks to the young cat a bit annoyed, "She's busy. Go play with your dolls or something, okay."

"I don't have any dolls...asshole." Katt replies calmly.

The older cat reaches to a wad of bills on the table and passes them to Katt, "Get some food, huh."

"Somebody already bought me dinner...the police." Katt says as she swipes up the cash and walks off.

Funboy looks at the young feline in irritation, "Somebody already bought me dinner...the police." He says in a mocking tone, him and Darla laugh.

**--Garex's Pawn shop--**

As the short gray furred rat stands behind the counter of his small shop, he looks over the rings and bag that Tin Tin had recently brought in, a large black bird flies in front of his ship. Fox's shadowy outline appears in front of the door...

"As, who the fuck is this , now. Hey! Piss off! We're closed! Cerrado!"

Fox pounds on the gate that covers the front of the shop as if to knock on the door...

"Go sleep it off somewhere else, dusthead, unless you wanna get mutilated!" Garex shouts.

Despite the gate being padlocked shut, Fox simply forces it open with a single paw, the act frightening Garex, the rat retrieves a large revolver from under the counter...

"God damn creatures of the night. They never learn."

This time Fox knocks on the class door three times...

"Hey! Hey!" Garex shouts trying to scare Fox off with the pistol.

As he approaches the glass door seeminly bursts inward sending shards of glass in all directions, attempting to get out of the blinding spray of sharp projectiles Garex falls backwards onto the ground dropping his weapon. He's fightened even furthered as the large Crow flies past him landing on a nearby rack of things...

"Suddenly I heard a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." Fox says pausing for a short moment to casually brush a small bit of glass off of his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

Fox advances a few steps, "You heard me rapping, right?"

You're trespassing." Garex shouts as he finds his gun pointing it at Fox, "And you owe me a fuckin' new door."

Fox ignores the gun, "I'm looking for something in and engagement ring...gold."

"Yeah, you're looking for a fuckin' coroner, shit for brains." Garex says not hesitating before putting a slug through the fox's chest, he panics as he watches the large bullet wound seal up, Fox gives him a malicious look, "Argh, shit on me! Shit on me! Shit ON ME!" The rat shouts repeatedly before his body flies over the glass counter slamming into a chain link grating before hitting the floor.

Fox rushes over and leaps onto the counter with little effort. Garex suddenly comes up swinging a large bat but, to his surprise the bat contacts nothing but mid air as Fox's painted face swings down from overhead where he hangs upside down from low rafter. Fox snatches the bat...

"Mister Garex...you're not paying attention." He says hitting the rat on the top of the head, only hard enough to make him stumble.

As Fox lands on the counter top in a crouched position the rat tries his hardest to punch him. Unfortunately Fox catches him by the wrist and all at once smashes the counter and pins the rat's paw to the wooden part of the counter quickly covering his mouth muffling the words "my paw".

"I repeat, a gold engagement ring, yes?" This time the rat nods, "It was pawned here a year ago by a customer of yours named Tin Tin." Fox says as he walks behind the chain link grating before spinning and staring at the rat through the dozens of small diamond shaped holes, "He confided in me just before he ran out of breath."

**--The alley where Tin Tin died--**

The police lights paint the crime scene a dancing shade of red and blue, Tin Tin's body was discovered only an hour or so after he was done in. His body was found with over a dozen small double bladed throwing knives driven into random different locations about his body, as the coroners wheel the body away, a familiar pair, a black panther and a gray wolf stand in the alley looking over the crime scene...

"Who's this sack of shit?" Wolf asks as they cart the body by him.

The panther takes a heavy drag off of a cigarette before tossing it to the rain soaked ground, "That was Tin Tin. One of T-bird's little helpers. I think you can rule out "accidental death"."

"T-bird? Tin Tin?" The lupine asks with a scoff, "Don't any of your street-demons have real grown-up names?"

Caruso looks back to the body as it's loaded into the back of a waiting ambulance, "This could be a turf hit, but it doesn't look like your usual gang crap."

"Come on, Caruso, spare me. You're a beat cop now, so be a beat cop...and leave the detective work to us professionals." Wolf replies.

"I'm s'posed to thank you for that little promotion, right?" The feline replies smartly.

The gray wolf gets close up to Caruso's face, "A word to the wise—watch your fuckin' mouth." Suddenly a sight catches the wolf's eyes from over Caruso's shoulder.

Behind the black feline up on a metal wall perfectly lit up by the police spot lights is a large roughly drawn outline of a Crow, drawn in Tin Tin's blood...

"What the hell do you call that?"

Caruso smiles, "I call it blood, detective. I s'pose you'll write it up as...graffiti."

Finally fed up with the smart ass feline Wolf turns to face him, "You can leave my crime scene now...get lost."

**--Garex's Pawn shop--**

Fox roams the back of the storage area of the building, thrashing anything in his search...

"Warmer?" He asks as he kicks over an old bike causing a domino effect to the nearby other items.

"What're you doing?" Garex yells as he still struggles to pull the knife from his paw.

Fox kicks out a small pane of glass, "What mister Garex—don't you know this game?"

"What game are you talking about?" He shouts still fighting to get the knife out of his paw and the wood holding him in place, "Okay, the rings, I'll tell you about the rings. They're in the metal box..." The rat gives in pointing to a far off counter, "They're in the metal box, it's under the shelf there. Get your fuckin' rings, you can chew 'em and choke on 'em, you sonnova bitch."

Fox pulls a small metal lockbox from under the counter and sits where Garex cannot see him. Fox keeps his eyes closed as he begins to slowly thumb through the small rings. He holds one up before his closed eyes, when he receives no memories from it he simply tosses it aside...

"No, no, no..." He continues as he tosses each wrong ring to the side, suddenly as he picks up a small golden band a pained look washes over his face as a few tears seep from his closed eyes.

**{Flashback}**

Fox follows Krystal up a small ladder in their apartment that led to the attic. The memories were now more painful that joyful. The entire attic was covered with lit candles. His memories seem to fast forward to another scene in the same attic with him holding open a small jewelry box containing the small ring...

"Oh, it's beautiful Fox. I don't believe it." Krystal gasps as he slides the ring onto her finger.

"I love you." She says wrapping her arms tightly around him.

**{End Flashback}**

Fox opens his eyes to see the small band that he'd given to his love over a year ago, "Krystal..." He whispers sadly. Fox then slides the ring onto his smallest finger, the only one it'll fit on, and heads back towards Garex destroying anything he can find on his way back, kicking over this and that. When he reaches the counter Garex finally gets the knife out of his paw but it's a few seconds too late as the rat finds himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun with a pistol grip.

"You have one chance to live." Fox says.

"Look, man. Take anything you want."

"Thank you." Fox replies.

"Take anything!" Garex replies loudly.

Fox walks around and picks up a small canister of gasoline, unknown why to Fox there are some large drums of gasoline, most likely for illegal sale, "Now..." Fox says pouring the gas all over the counter, "you're going to tell me where to find the rest of Tin Tin's little pals."

Garex has no more longing to fight the animal, "The Pit. They all hang out at The Pit. All of T-bird's little fuck-heads hang out there. Funboy—he lives there, upstairs, alright?"

"Funboy..." At the mention of the name Fox has a sudden flashback of the creep raping Krystal, " A whole jolly club..." He shouts as his memories fuel his anger, smashing more of the glass counters, and finally kicking over a small stack of gas cans, "With jolly pirate nicknames!"

"Jesus fuckin' Christ!" Garex yells as Fox thrashes his shop.

"Hold still!" Fox says suddenly holding his shotgun up to the rat's face before holding up a ring from the metal box, "Each one of these...Is a life..." He says throwing it at the rat's face, "A life you helped destroy."

Garex practically falls to his knees, "Look, I'm begging you...don't kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you." Fox assures him lowering his weapon, "Your job will be to tell the rest of them that Death is coming for them...tonight." He says pouring the rest of the rings from the box down the barrel of his shotgun, "Tell them that Fox McCloud sends his regards." He finishes as he walks out the door taking a single guitar as he leaves.

Garex finally enraged at what the Fox has done to his shop looks to him as he wraps his punctured paw, "Walk outta here, they're gonna erase your sorry ass! You're nothin' but street grease, y'hear? Street grease you motherfucker!"

Fox stops a short ways out of the door with a sick smile on his face as he sniffs the air, "Is that gasoline I smell?"

Garex's cocky attitude at this point turns to fear as he realizes that his shop is covered in gas, with more than enough around to blow him half way to hell. As Fox lifts his shotgun toward the shop Garex runs for the off to his side. The explosion shoots the rat through the metal door and into a nearby wall, as his shop sends an enormous fireball hurling into the air. The rat rolls about the ally slapping the flames off of his pant legs, he's burnt and battered but not dead...

**--The Pit--**

Katt sits at the small bar's counter, the bartender having known her for quite some time. An angry tiger in the background kicks the jukebox until it finally starts to play. The bartender slides her a small mug of rootbeer...

"It's on the house kiddo. You know that. One rootbeer." He says pushing her money away.

As he says this the two watch Funboy and Darla head upstairs...

"I can't do anything. Your mom? Technically, she's...off, right now."

Katt scoffs after sipping her drink, "yeah way off."

**--Garex's Pawn shop...well whats left of it--**

Caruso had been patrolling the side of town when he heard the explosion of Garex's shop, it really didn't make any sense as Garex was known to work with T-bird and his boys. However he does spot a suspicious character leaving the scene of the burning building. A face painted reddish-brown furred fox wearing a long black coat and carrying a guitar over his shoulder. He leaps out of his squad car pulling his gun and pointing it at Fox...

"Police! Don't move!" He shouts but Fox keeps walking, "I said don't..." He pauses as he gets a clear look at the disturbed animal's face, "...move."

Fox pauses, "I thought the police always said "Freeze"."

"Well, I am the police, and I say "don't move", Snow White. You move, you're dead."

Fox steps forward, "And I say I am dead...and I move."

"Not one more step...I'm serious." Caruso demands getting a little creeped out.

"Then shoot, if you will," Fox says with a courteous bow before looking up to the feline, "Officer Caruso."

The panther is stunned, "What are you nuts? Walkin' into a gun? You high?"

Fox smiles innocently, "You don't remember me."

"What are you talking about?"

Fox still smiles, "How about Krystal? Do you remember Krystal Fox?"

"Krystal Fox's dead my friend. I want you to move over to the curb there. C'mon, real nice and easy. C'mon, move it!" Fox complies with the orders and sits down adjusting the guitar slung over his shoulder so that he can sit on the curb, "I'm waiting for backup. This shit's getting too fuckin' weird for me."

"Oh it gets better..." Fox says with a prideful smile, "Do you know someone named T-bird? He had a friend who shouldn't have played with knives?" He asks tugging on the inside of the coat, "Like the coat?"

"You're the guy that murdered Tin Tin." Caruso stated shocked, he'd know that coat anywhere.

Fox shook his head lightly before looking up to the panther, "No. He was already dead. He died a year ago...the moment he touched her. They're all dead, they just don't know it yet."

Suddenly there's a crash of breaking glass coming from Garex's shop, and Caruso turns to see a couple of looters making off with a large television, "Hey! Get away from there." As his shout scares them off he quickly turns back around only to see that Fox is completely gone, "Oh great. Great! A guy shows up looking like a mime from hell and...you loose him right out in the open. Well..." He says putting his gun away, "At least he didn't do that...walking against the wind shit, I hate that." Soon his backup finally arrives in several squad cars.

**--Top Dollar's board room--**

The black vulpine paces back and forth in front of a small chair at the front of a very long black table. The red vixen, very scantily clad, lays on the table. She tosses one of the she-wolf from earlier's eyes into a small flaming brazier on the table. As she does this the black fox continues to pace...

"You are very restless." She says to him.

"Just wish I was a little hungry again, that's all."

"Be careful what you wish for." The vixen warns him.

Top Dollar sits in his chair, "Yeah, I may get it, I know." He sniffs the some from the wolf's burning eyes.

"There are energies gathering against you." The vixen says.

"Seein' is believin', isn't it?" He replies. The vixen kisses him before he dips his finger into a large place covered in white powder, and licks his fingers clean, "Mmm, yummy." As he begins working the drugs with a small knife a large vulpine enters with a blue falcon in step.

"Sir..." Grange says, "Garex's pawnshop just burned down, to the foundation,"

The black fox looks to T-bird accusingly while he cuts the white powder into a small line...

"I didn't have nothing to do with that." The bird defends himself.

"Ah, sure. You must be awful disappointed." The black fox replied.

"I got trouble, One of my crew got himself perished." T-bird said.

"Yeah? And who might that be?"

T-bird cannot find the power to keep his eyes off the vixen who sprawls herself seductively out on the table, "Tin Tin. Somebody stuck his blades in all his major organs in alphabetical order."

Top Dollar give a light sigh as the red vixen crawls off of the table and takes a seat on the arm of his chair, he balances her with a paw on her inner thigh, "Well, gentlemen, by all means, I think we oughta have an introspective moment of silence for poor old Tin Tin." The black fox says using a straw to sniff up a line of the white powder he'd been toying with, "You're workin' for me tomorrow night, right?"

T-bird nods his head, "Whatever you say. I can do."

"Good, very reassuring. I still ain't heard the story on why Garex's burned down, is that a natural catastrophe, or act of God or something? Call it my "need to know"."

**--Outside The Pit--**

Katt drops her skateboard and starts to ride off when someone snatches her out from in front of a speeding taxi. Not knowing what's going on she struggles against his grip...

"Let go of me, you creep!" A flashback of the young feline playing with Krystal causes Fox to put her down, he stumbles blindly to a nearby telephone pole for support, and turns away from the young cat, "You didn't even slow down, dickhead!" She shouts after the driver.

"He couldn't have stopped..." Fox whispered weakly.

"He was just being a dick. I coulda made it." The pink feline says as she gets a short look at his painted face, "What're you supposed to be, a clown or something?"

Fox keeps from looking at her, "Sometimes..." He answers.

Katt retrieves her board from across the street, "It's more like surfing than skating. I wish the rain would stop, just once."

Fox smiles a bit, "It can't rain all the time."

The words burned into the cat's mind...she'd heard them before, and from the same voice, "Fox?" Unfortunately as she turns there is nothing there but a telephone pole and the darkness spanning out into a nearby alleyway.

**--Caruso's desk...police station--**

The black panther sits at his desk looking at a photo of a band that once played at the Trash Club. A familiar Fox stands as the second to the right of the four person group. Intrigued he begins filling in the face to look like the fox that he'd run into outside of Garex's pawnshop. The thought of the dead walking was beginning to make his skin crawl. A familiar office that often work across the room from him approached, a pink furred rabbit named Roxy...

"Don't thank me." She says tossing him a portfolio, "Are we fighting the good fight?"

"Double homicide, a year ago. No convictions. Roxy, look at that." He says handing her a page from the portfolio.

Roxy begins to read over the page, "We the undersigned tenants of 1929 Calderon Court Apartments.."...What is this, a petition?"

"A big "kick-me" sign for a very nice girl who found herself a cause...that cause got her killed."

"She was fighting tenant eviction in THAT neighborhood?"

"Krystal Fox and her nice rock-and-roll boyfriend, Fox McCloud."

"You know, the last time you went snooping around on a case is when you got put back on the beat." Roxy warned him.

"Yeah, I know—O'donnell keeps reminding me." Caruso smiles.

"Oh, ho...I bet he does." She notices the photo with Fox's face all drawn on, "You're gonna wind up working a school crosswalk."

"Nah, I'm cool." Caruso replies with a smile.

"Yeah..." Roxy replies walking away, "Just remember, you didn't get that file from me, okay. And don't tell me you "owe me one"."

Caruso stalls for a moment, "Uh...I owe you one."

Caruso spends some more time looking over the photo and the more he sees it the more he begins to wonder, "Damn!"

**--The Pit--**

There's only one small room above the bar, a shabby little crap shack really. The place looks like hell, there are clothes and trash scattered everywhere, a small television sits on a TV stand a short way from the bed, which is really only composed of two small mattresses stacked on top of one another. The light cream colored fox, Funboy, sits on the bed with Darla preparing a syringe full of morphine. After making certain of everything he injects it into the cat's arm...

"Tomorrow night," He says removing the needle, "we can get high, and watch this whole fuckin' city burn, from that window."

As he sits by watching Fox looks out over the rains, he crouches on a thing bar of metal, the ledge of a fire escape, in front of a flickering neon sign with the words "The Pit" on it glowing a light yellow-green color. The Crow flies by and through Funboy's open window landing on the fox's television. Though the drugs have taken a good hold of her senses and Funboy is at the moment nibbling at the cats neck, the caw from the bird attracts her attention but, not Funboy's...

"There's a really big fuckin' bird over there."

The cream colored fox blinks a few times in disbelief, "It's a squab." He says laughing in his morphine induced stupor, "C'mere, bird, birdy. Here birdybirdybirdybirdy...." He repeats constantly a few times.

Fox still sitting on the fire escape out front can see everything as his black feathered guide stares at the two, stoned animals. He takes the moment to slowly enter the room with his guitar still strapped over his shoulder...

"Here...Funboy." He half whispers in a rather creepy voice as he enters the room, stopping and rubbing his forehead across a small low-hanging lightbulb.

"What—the—fuck?" Funboy seems to ask his own senses. Suddenly Fox takes a quick step forward producing a screeching sound from his guitar as he slides his claws over the strings, scaring Funboy into covering his face, "No, man, don't do that! You nearly gave me a fuckin' heart attack!" He shouts as Darla simply sits there and laughs lightly, "Don't sweat it." The fox says to the pink feline.

Fox walks to a coat rack near the door and hangs up his guitar, Funboy takes this moment to pull a large gun from under his mattress, "'S time for you to get your bird and leave, freako."

Fox grabs a chair and sliding it over to the foot of Funboy's bed, straddling it while resting his arms on the back of the chair. He simply ignores the threat and settles his palm over the barrel of the gun, "Take your shot, Funboy. Ya got me, dead bang."

Funboy looks at the fox in disbelief, "You are seriously fucked up. Have you looked in a mirror? You need professional fuckin' help." He says pulling the trigger blowing a huge hole in Fox's paw which spatters his chest with blood. Fox yells out in pain holding his paw and stumbling back, "Bingo! Hah! He shoots! He scores!" Funboy shouts for himself jumping to his feet, Darla falls off the bed.

Fox stops holding his paw and starts laughing before turning around and holding up his paw staring at the two animals through the hole as it seals shut before their eyes, "Wooooo--ooooooo!" He shouts as the hole vanishes.

"Je—sus Christ!" Funboy says in disbelief.

Fox smiles, "Jesus Christ?" Fox says, "Stop me if you've heard this one." He says approaching the bed with his paws behind his back skipping slightly, "Jesus Christ walks into a hotel..." Another bullet tears through his shoulder and the wall behind him but it seals up as he keeps walking, "Ow. He hands the innkeeper three nails, and asks..." Funboy shoots him in the chest and gut but they both seal shut again.

"Don't you ever fuckin' die?!" The fox shouts in frustration.

"Can you put me up for the night?" Fox finishes his joke. As Funboy aims another shot Fox slaps the gun away causing it to go off tearing a large hole in Funboy's thigh who collapses to the bed.

Fox leaps up crouching next to the injured vulpine, Darla screams and runs into the into the bathroom to hide locking herself inside. Fox keeps his attention on Funboy, "Dose that hurt?" He asks.

"Fuck! Does it...does it hurt?" Funboy repeats grabbing his leg, he notices the blood is everywhere, "Man...Look what you've done...to my sheets." He says before finally passing out.

Fox looks to the bathroom and takes Funboy by the leg dragging him slowly toward the bathroom, where he effortlessly pushes the locked door open destroying the door frame. He dumps Funboy into the shower, while dealing with another flashback of what the creep had done to Krystal. He turns on the cold water, he wants the freak to be awake for this. He notices Darla as she frantically reaches for a straight razor that fell from the bathroom sink. Fox approaches the modified feline who frantically begins waving the razor at him trying anything to make sure she isn't next, screaming and crying...

"Stay away from me! Stay away! Nooooo!" She screams.

Fox quickly strips the blade from her paws after receiving several large cuts which seal up instantly, and force the feline to her feet, holding her from behind he pulls back on her forehead forcing her to look into the mirror, "Look! Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children. Do you understand?" He asks squeezing her arm, somehow forcing the morphine to eject itself from her veins, "Morphine is bad for you." As the high wears off Darla calms down looking at the fox in amazement for what he'd just done, "Your daughter is out there on the streets, waiting for you." He says finally releasing her,

Still incredibly frightened the cat gathers her things and rushes out of the room. Fox leaves the bathroom where he finds another syringe and a large supply of morphine, and looks to the needle before looking back to the bathroom...

**--downstairs--**

A fat gray rat sits at The Pit's bar drinking what he hopes is an incredibly strong liquor...he's horribly burned and shaky from the blood loss in his paw that, thankfully, stopped a while back. He finishes the brown liquor before looking to the bartender...

"If I wanted Ice, I woulda asked for ice..." He shouts tossing the ice out of the glass over his shoulder, "Now fill it up."

For a moment the bartender thinks about smashing the bottle over the rude asshole's head, but slams it down in front of him instead, "Fill it up yourself, macho man."

Garex sits still for a moment, "I really need this..." He says as a familiar tall red fox steps up and pours him a drink from the bottle, "All right." The rat says calling the fox to stop pouring.

"You burn yourself playing with matches?" Grange asks.

"Fuck off." Garex says drinking from his glass.

Grange looks a bit angry, "You have an appointment."

"Well..." Garex says setting down the glass, "Shit on me."

"Drink up." Grange says.

Garex looks as Grange fills his glass again, "This is a first. Do I bow, or do I curtsey? Get my friend here a glass of blood..."

Suddenly Darla runs down the stairs, she trips on her way out the door, but picks herself up...

"Hey! Good night...Dar-la." the bartender taunts as she runs off.

Finding the cats current behavior odd, Grange plops Garex's hat which had been sitting on the counter on his sore head, "You stay put." He says before walking off towards the stairs.

**--Upstairs--**

Fox sits in the middle of the room with Funboy barely conscious as he holds one of the needle at him...the injured fox tries to hold him back...

"No...dude, you're wasting it." He mumbles weakly.

Soon the door is thrown open, the first thing in Grange's sight is a barely living Funboy laying there with several needles stuck in his chest, outlined by a bloody Crow drawn on his chest. Suddenly he hears the sound of fluttering wings and looks toward the open window of the apartment, where he can see Fox pressing his index finger to his lips before falling backward out of the window,,,Grange rushes over to the window with a gun drawn but, there is only more rain and darkness outside...he can only stand by and watch as the convulsing fox on the ground draws his last breaths...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Well as I had expected this is going by rather quickly...but, it did give me a break from my other stories so...I should be working on those again real soon. Thanks for the endless support all...**

**The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox

* * *

  
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**---Chapter 4---**

A large black bird lands of a small car outside of a small apartment on the far end of the city. Inside Officer Caruso sits with an opened beer in his paw, wearing nothing but a white shirt, his boxers and his policeman's hat, sifting through different photo's from Fox's case. Still a bit unsure about what he's seen so far. As he takes a sip from his beer he can hear the newscaster from the TV he has place just out of his sight, not interested in seeing anything as much as he does hope to hear something else referring to another death in T-bird's little group....cop or not, he still hated the lowlifes...

The newscast droned on, "...As you can see, I'm here on the corner of Twenty-seventh street and East Washington Place, the site of last year's biggest Devil's Night conflagration. It was exactly one year ago that the building you see across the street from me was totally demolished by fire. The fire that was won by seven fire companies but lost the lives of two firefighters. In fact, if it weren't for the constant surveillance of the local police precincts..."

The voice is suddenly drowned away from his attention by a suspicious noise coming from his bedroom that was situated just around the corner and through the small apartment's kitchen. As he peaks his head into the bedroom he notices an opened window, the smell of rain soaked sand and pavement blowing the drapes making them seems like some sort of eerie spirit. The panther thinks for a moment, had he left the window open? Maybe he was simply hearing things...thinking too much. He sighs lightly before returning to the living room, not noticing the Fox standing in the shadows by the door of his apartment...

"Freeze!" Fox shouts.

Caruso practically jumps out of his fur dropping his beer, "Jesus! Don't ever do that, man. Fuck!"

"Like I said "Freeze" works better," Fox says as he move to the small coffee table picking up the photo of his band with his face painted as it was right now, "Good likeness."

As Fox walks by the panther begins to step back, "I saw your body man, you...you died, you got buried."

Ignoring the fact of being dead as if it were normal, Fox looks at the panther with curiosity, "You still have your hat on..."

Caruso quickly removes the hat and tosses it onto the back of his sofa, "Shit. Holy shit..." He says as Fox enters the kitchen and returns with a fresh beer, "Say, a-are you some kind of...of ghost?"

Fox opens the bottle, "Boo!" He says handing it to the feline.

"I gotta sit down." Caruso says sitting on his sofa.

Fox falls helplessly into the seat of a recliner before looking up to the panther, "I don't know what I am. I need you to tell me what happened to us."

The black feline sighs, it really bothers him to really talk about that night, "Well, you took a six-story swan dive out of a window. She, uh..." He hesitates at the thought of what had happened to Krystal, "...was beaten and raped...died at the hospital." As he mentions her fate Fox winces inwardly, "Hey, you asked, man. Hey, c'mon, read the file!" He says walking to his desk across the room and picking up a folder, "Krystal Fox...held on for thirty hours in intensive care, her body finally just gave it up. I saw it man—I couldn't do shit for her." He says passing the file to Fox.

Fox simply pushes the file away and approaches the panther, slowly reaching to his face with both paws, Caruso is a bit frightened but, doesn't move as Fox's paws gently grasp the sides of the feline's head. In an instant Fox is blasted by waves of painful visions, images of the blue vixen laying in and ICU bloody and beaten, all sorts of machines breathing for her and keeping her clinging to life. The poor vulpine lets out a cry of anguish as he stumbles away from the panther, who tries to help him balance himself, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Fox screams, falling against the side of the recliner holding the sides of his heads while crying for what he'd just seen.

Caruso approaches the fox cautiously, "Hey...You okay?"

"I saw her..." Fox explains with tears in his eyes, "I saw her through your eyes. You stayed with her the whole time."

Caruso takes a seat again this time on the table, "Yeah, well...you gotta understand something, alright? I was...I was really hoping she'd pull through it, you know? Give me something that would put those fuckers away for good." He says lighting a cigarette.

"Why didn't you do something about it?" Fox asks angrily.

Caruso blows out a small cloud of smoke, "You think I didn't try? You think any of the other people in that building, even the ones that did sign that petition, woulda talked after what happened to you? I kept asking questions and...finally got busted for sticking my nose in where it wasn't wanted."

Fox picks up a framed photo of the panther standing next to a lovely looking female of his kind, "Your wife?" He asks.

"Yeah. We...uh, well...not anymore. We're getting a divorce."

Fox chuckles a bit, "It's funny. Little things used to matter so much to Krystal...I used to thing they were kind of trivial. Believe me---nothing is trivial." Fox says taking the cigarette from Caruso's lips and taking a large drag off it before coughing a bit and holding it up in front of him ruefully, "You know---you really shouldn't smoke these...they'll kill ya." He says putting it out and standing up with his arms crossed holding himself sorrowfully.

"You gonna vanish into thin air again?" Caruso asks sarcastically.

Still with tears in his eyes and grieving for his loss Fox looks back to the panther, "Actually...I thought I'd just use the front door."

"Look, man...uh. I'm sorry as hell for what happened to you and your girl."

Fox, still in tears, stops for a moment, "Yeah..." He whispers, as he walks out in to the cold uncaring world.

The last sounds of his presence there the door slowly closing behind the broken hearted vulpine...

**--Top Dollars board room, on top floor of Club Thrash---**

Garex sits by as Grange stands behind him making sure he stays put, the red furred vixen, still scantily clad sits on the table to his right, while the black fox, dressed in a businessman-like attire, a white button up shirt, and black slacks, paces back and forth across the front of the room. He's still curious about how the rat's pawn shop burned down...

"I got stabbed! I shot the sonnuva bitch. I watched the bullethole close by itself." The gray rat shouted, "Then my business gets blown up real good. Other than that, my day sucked."

"Yeah." Grange said rehinforcing the tale, "I saw him too—he had a guitar. Winked at me before he jumped out of a fourth-floor window like he had fuckin' wings."

Top Dollar scoffs a bit at Grange, "He winked at you? _Tsk_. Musicians. What else did you see?"

A bit irritated that he was being ignored Garex interrupts, "So far I haven't heard shit about what you're gonna do about all this crap. I mean, what do I get? My livelihood got flushed down the shit hole..."

"You ain't lost everything." Top Dollar says.

"Yeah! And maybe you're not such a big shot eit-..." He shouts standing up but is cut off and forced back into the seat by Grange, "Ow...Jesus!"

Top Dollar nods but turns to Garex, "Fair enough...Catch." He says tossing a small object to the rat who catches it.

As he opens his paws a small familiar looking object stares back at him with a light blue iris, "Fuck..." He shouts in horror dropping the eye to the table, "Jesus!"

"Say hello to the last fellow who wouldn't cooperate with me." Top Dollar says walking toward a large wooden cabinet held up on the wall.

"What're you telling me...you're telling me this thing is real?"

Top Dollar opens the cabinet looking over a vast array of beautifully crafted swords of all types and makes, "All the power in the world resides in the eyes, fella." He says pulling a rapier with a nicely crafted gold spiral hilt, "Sometimes they're more useful than the people that bare them."

The black fox's sentiment disturbs the rat a bit, "You're directly outta your fuckin' mind, y'know that?"

"Yeah. Eyes see! It's one of the most important things I learned from my sister." The black fox says looking to the red vixen.

Garex looks between the two, "Your sister? She supposed to be your sister?" he laughs.

"My father's daughter...that's right. What's the matter? You don't see the resemblance?" Top Dollar shouts placing the point of his blade at the rat's throat in anger while his sister places a foot on his shoulder and Grange holds his shoulders down, "Now, let's take it from the top, friend? With a lot of detail. Whadday say?"

Garex's voice starts to crack with fear, "He had a bird with him—-nearly pecked my fuckin' face off. He told me to tell T-bird that death was on it's way, whatever the fuck that means. McCloud...he said his name was Fox McCloud." He says looking to the sword point on his neck, "You wanna relax that thing now?"

Top Dollar walks away a bit, "And this "bird-man", he just happened to let you live, huh? You sure you ain't makin' all this up just to save your own ass?"

A bit offended and angered by the accusation Garex raises his voice, "I ain't makin' all this up! I ain't ...twisted like you two fucks."

The red vixen takes the moment to back away from him and Top Dollar looks to Grange, "Alright..." He says causing the large fox to move away taking his paws off of the rat's shoulders, "A boy and his bird...awful touching." Top Dollar says with a chuckle causing Garex to burst into laughter. The black fox sighs, "Fuck it..." He says spinning into a perfect thrust of the rapier, plowing the entirety of the blade through the animal's throat, causing the rat to burst into a fit of gargling convulsions in his seat, "For fuck's sake, die already!" Top Dollar shouts turning to Grange, "Gimme that thing." He says causing Grange to remove a small uzzie from his coat and tossing it to the black fox who shoots Garex several times before the fits stop, "Thanks." He says tossing the gun back to Grange.

"Funboy said he saw a black bird too, a big one...then he choked to death on his own blood." Grange reassures the black fox, "I'll have the janitor......clean this up."

**--Fox's Old apartment--**

Lost in a pit of sorrw and painful memories, Fox sits atop the roof of him and Krytal's old apartment, the tune that sounds off from the guitar he plays carrying out over the streets with a powerfully sorrowful tune. His music used to bring him so much joy, but joy no longer existed for him there was only pain and sorrow, and...revenge. The Crow perches on the nearby blackened rail of the rooftop patio watching the broken fox as he plays, before turning toward the open city, it cocks it's head to one side and caws eerily before leaping from it's perch soon flying off into the dark raining night...

**--Miles into the city near a liquor store--**

The large black bird that has become Fox's eyes into the city sits on the edge of a rooftop watching two animals walk along the sidewalk with cold soulless eyes. It caws several times before flying off...

"...I don't know," T-bird says to the silver fox walking beside him, "how many times I gotta tell you? We're in this together...If one part falls, we all fall. You know how long it took us to put this together!"

"Yeah, a long time." Skank says.

"That piece of ratshit made Tin Tin's ass into a fuckin' voodoo doll..." The blue feathered falco says with a sigh.

Skank scoffs, "Tin Tin was a fuckin' dick, man!"

T-bird goes silent for a moment, "Tin Tin...sheesh!"

The two smile as they look to each other, "Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up!" They yell to each other.

T-bird stops as Skank shouts a few more times, "No Funboy." He says looking to an obviously stolen watch.

Skank grabs a nearby parking meter, and starts bumping his crotch against it, "Probably still....banging away on Darla." He shouts merrily before stopping.

T-bird walks to the vehicle that has been parked across the street, and stands by, before whistling to Skank and pointing to the liquor store, "Smokes and road beers, be quick."

"I'm on it!" Skank shouts back before walking into the store.

T-bird, still thinking about his dead friend, climbs into the driver's seat of his red hot rod before removing a cigar from his coat and placing one end in his beak. As he goes to light it however a large crow lands on his hood cawing at him, he notices a white painted face in his rear view mirror and goes for his gun, but freezes as the barrel of a large pistol is quickly placed against his skull. Fox reaches over his shoulder taking his gun and cigar tossing both out the window...

"W-w-what the fuck are you supposed to be, man?" He asks looking over to Fox.

"I'm your passenger..." Fox replies turning the bird's head back toward the steering wheel, "...Drive."

T-bird peels out filling the air with the smell of burning rubber, as the vehicle tears down the street passing Skank who has a mouth full of potato chips and arms full of beers and cigars which all fall to the ground, "What the fuck is this happy horseshit?" He asks running out into the street to chase the car down, "Hey! T-bird! T-bird!" He shouts as he runs until he's hit by a small hatchback that sends him rolling over the hood breaking the windshield rolling him over the top and dropping him onto the street.

The small vehicle pulls to a stop and a green scaled iguana steps out pulling the fox to his feet, "What the fuck's the matter with you?!" He yells, "You stupid fuckin' asshole! You hit my car!"

The reptile punches Skank several times but is kneed in the crotch, Skank smashes the lizard's face into the trunk of the car several times before throwing him down and taking the car rushing down the street after the red car...

**--T-bird's Car--**

T-bird hauls the vehicle down the streets with Fox's paw still holding his head facing the road...

"Whaddya want, man? Money? Drugs? I got 'em." The bird says trying to barter for his life, "We could use you---you did Tin Tin. This is business, right?"

The bird hears the click of the pistol's hammer locking in place, "Faster." Fox demands.

As the car plows down the streets at reckless speeds a police cruiser sits park in a small alleyway, the two cops inside both trying to enjoy a cup of coffee, one of them reaches for a small white packet...

"You got that cream stuff again?" The golden brown furred feline asks, "I hate this shit---they can't even legally call it cream."

The cop in the driver's seat sighs as his partner complains but, a large red hot rod shoots by, pushing way past ninety mile per hour, "What the fuck!" The driver yells peeling out after them.

"Ow! Ahh! Oh gawd!" His partner yells as the hot coffee spills in his lap.

T-bird notices the cop car's flashing lights in the rear view "Hey look, you're makin' us popular. You know when they flash us like that, they ain't our friends."

There a large dip that the vehicle soars over jolting T-bird a bit, "If you got something personal, amigo, we can work it out, right?"

As the chase ensues T-bird's car picks up another police cruiser, and Skank's small car plow through the alleys trying his hardest to keep up with the souped up hot rod. Unfortunately as he passes a street, and flies through another alleyway T-bird's car passes in front of him. And the small hatchback broadsides one of the two cop cars causing a small three car pile-up in the middle of the street, Skank falls out of the small yellow vehicle and slowly crawls to his feet limping away bloodied from the accident but still lucky to be alive, the police in the first car not so lucky as one was ejected through the windshield slamming headfirst into a nearby dumpster, another crushed behind the steering wheel.

**--A dock at the city Wharf--**

T-bird wriggles helplessly as his body has been duct taped to the seat, as Fox seems to be gathering something from the known arson's trunk...

"Remember?" T-bird asks, confirming the question he'd just been asked, "Yeah, I remember everything...But I don't know what...what? What!? What are you talking about. No, no, no, no. You mean that place downtown? Yeah, I remember her. We needed to put some rear into that little lady---she wasn't going along with out "tenant relocation" program." The blue avian says laughing nervously as Fox makes his way back to the bird's side with a grenade and another roll of duct tape, "Then her idiot boyfriend shows up, and turns a simple sweep-and-clean into a total cluster fuck! But, who gives a shit---it's ancient history." He says beginning to hyperventilate as he notices that Fox has no intention of changing his mind, "Why? Whaddya want? What is it? What? Speak to me! Speak!" He's interrupted by the sound and sight of Fox tearing a long strip from the roll of silver tape.

T-bird's mind finally gives him a realization...

**{Flashback}**

The bird forces the apartment door open holding up a petition...

"Did you send us these complaints?"

His mind flashes through the rape and then to Fox being hit by Tin Tin's knife......

**{End Flashback}**

It was now as he looked upon Fox's painted face that he realized the truth, "I know you. I know you, I knew I knew you...I knew I knew you..." The bird says almost in tears, "But, you ain't you...you can't be you. We put you through the window. There ain't no comin' back. This is the really real world, there ain't no comin' back. We killed you dead---there ain't no comin' back." The falcon screams in fear as Fox begins to tape his head to the back of the seat forcing him to look to the open water at the end of the dock, "There ain't no comin' back...there ain't no comin' back." The bird repeats himself with tears of fear rolling down his face as his sobs half muffle his words as Fox rigs the vehicle's accelerator leaving the parking break on, T-bird seemed to look back for words as he only found one thing to say, "Abashed the devil stood...and he felt how awful goodness is...felt how awful...goodness..."

As Fox drops the now active grenade into T-bird's lap, he lets the parking break go sending the car down the pier, he gives a sarcastic two fingered wave as the car rushes down the pier. Skank stumbles out of a nearby alleyway onto the dock, only in enough time to see the vehicle and his closest friend burst into a ball of flames as the car is sent flipping off of the dock by the sheer force of the blast. Skank rushes off in fear of the Fox that still stnands there watching the burning wreckage sink into the harbor. Fox stands by with a bottle of lighter fluid spraying it seemingly aimlessly onto the ground...he finally tosses the bottle and strikes a lighter tossing it to the ground...the flame moves along the trail leaving the only sign that Fox had even bee there. The flaming outline of he feathered companion...


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay this was meant from the beginning to be a short story...and that means there's only one chapter left...thanks to any that decided to read it...and I hope if you haven't seen the movie, read the novels, or the original graphic novels they all really kick ass. Anyhow...here's chapter 5...enjoy...**

**The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox

* * *

  
**

**---Chapter 5---**

**--Fox's Grave--**

Grange kneels down at the sight of Fox's empty and opened grave lifting a paw full of the dirt, and sighing. Garex wasn't lying.

**--Darla's Apartment--**

Katt had fallen asleep with a familiar record in her arms, a record title Hangman's Joke...Fox's band's first album. An unusual sound wakes the young feline. She can hear the new playing from the kitchen, as well as something cooking. The still tired pink feline rolls onto her feet and places the record on the rack...

"This is the seven a.m. Edition of Action News." She could hear the newscaster from the living room, "For over a decade, the night before Halloween, has had a darker and deadlier nickname in the inner city---Devil's Night---the name given to what has become an annual plague of arson. Last year over 200 individual blazes were reported, and 11 people lost their lives. Tonight will repeat what may become the biggest and deadliest Devil's Night ever. The mayor has firefighters from all surrounding counties, as well as..."

She started to ignore the program as she saw Darla standing over the stove frying eggs...

"You like 'em up or over?" She asks, "I can't remember."

"What are you doing?" Katt asks, "I don't even like eggs."

Darla clearly had missed out on a lot of her daughter's life, "Wait...you loved eggs."

Katt scoffs, "Yeah...when I was five."

"So whaddya want now?" Darla asks in annoyance, "Black coffee and cigarettes?"

Katt can't seem to grasp what's going on, "So what did you take to become "mother of the year"?"

Darla looks at the pan, "It...it wasn't drugs. Someone kind of...woke me up."

"Who?"

"Oh! It's nuts..." Darla replied not really believing it herself.

"You're acting weird. Did you wind the lottery or something, Dar-la?"

The poor feline's nerves were already a mess, "Oh forget it!" She shouts giving up, "I never was any good at this mommy shit."

Katt makes her way over to her mother as she realizes that something has changed her outlook, "Over easy!" She reassures Darla, "I like 'em over easy...mom."

**--Police station--**

Panther had been in a good mood all morning, though he didn't know why tonight was going to be the worst Devil's Night ever, and he was covering up for an undead vigilante with a bird fetish. All thoughts aside the black feline made his way toward his office unfortunately his good mood was not about to last...

"Hey...Caruso!" O'donnell shouts causing the feline's good mood to take a sour turn as he approaches the detective's office, "This is the third hit in your 'hood in twenty-four hours." The wolf passes Caruso a small photo of what's left of T-bird, "We just fished this out of the river. He's fused to his own car--"

Causo smiles, "His name was T-bird. Arson was his specialty, looks like he zigged when he shoulda zagged. Case closed." The feline says passing the file back to the lupine.

"Bull-fuckin'-shit. Get your ass in here..."Wolf replies, and shuts the door as they both enter his office, "You're holding out on me. I got a god-damned vigilante killer knocking off scum-bags left and right. And you're covering for somebody. Who's the cartoon character with the painted face?"

Panther chuckles a bit, "Hey, you're the detective. Why don't you tell me?"

"Okay. Garex's place blows all to hell, and you're having a chitchat with some weirdo who winds up in T-bird's car when it zigs instead of zags. Then you steal one of my case files from homicide, and you're saying this is all just a fuckin' automobile accident? C'mon!"

"Yeah. Good speech though. I didn't want to interrupt you---it sounded good. You gotta write that shit down." Caruso says.

"Alright, smartass. The Captain's got a little love-note waiting for you. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your suspension." Wolf shouts sitting at his desk.

"Suspension? What for?" Caruso asks.

"Misconduct!" Wolf shouts dialing a short number on his desk phone while waving Panther out of the room, "Yeah. Give me the lab..."

**--Calderon Court apartments--**

Katt pulls her skateboard up to the curb, she hadn't seen the place since that night last year. The door to the building had long since been boarded shut, but a small space proved big enough for her to get through. The apartment had become Fox's only haven for the time, but it still held no end for his tear or his sorrow, though Gabriel tried to cheer him up, nothing could make his tears stop as he sat by the fireplace tossing one photo at a time allowing whatever memories the photo held to filter into his mind before letting the flames take it away, his ear twitched against a familiar sound of footsteps in the stairwell outside the room. Katt enters an empty room with still smoldering fire...

"Fox?" She calls looking into the empty room as a sudden sound catches her attention, "Man, Katt, you're going crazy." As she says this a white house cat approaches her, "Gabriel! I thought you were dead too!" She says picking the old cat up, "You're not dead...are you?" She asks setting him down. She explores the room a bit more only to find a half burned photo on the ground, someone had definitely been there, "I knew it was you. Even with the make-up. I remembered your song. You said: "It can't rain all the time", that is from your song? Right?" She asks the darkness receiving no response, she sighs in frustration, but doesn't pay mind to the crow that lands on a support beam overhead, "Ah, Eric. I know you're here. I miss you, and Krystal...it gets so lonely all by myself." Still receiving no answer Katt finally gives up, "The hell with you then..." She shouts picking up her board and heading toward the door, "I thought you cared."

As the young feline makes her way toward the door the sun rises in the background through the rain casting the shadow of Fox's familiar form on the wall in front of her, she's stunned for a moment...

"Katt..." Fox whispers, "I do care."

Katt quickly turns around tossing her skateboard aside, and runs to her old friend, who drops to his knees wrapping his arms around the pink feline as she leaps into his arms...

**--Top Dollar's board room--**

Top Dollar at the head of his large table, Skank is horribly battered from his car accident, Grange stands by as he usually does, there's a photo of Fox's band sitting on the table in front of him, and the silver fox points to Fox's face...

"That's him. That's him. But he looked different---he was all painted up white like some kind of dead whore. I seen him! T-bird, he sent me in for some road beers, right? And he flash-fried T-bird's ass to his own car...Ah, T-bird!" He shouts holding up a drink, "Here's to you, buddy." He finishes slamming the drink.

Top Dollar rolls his eyes, " I think we oughta just videotape this, and play it back in slow motion." He says as Skank is talking so fast they can barely understand him.

Suddenly Skank starts shouting, "Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up!......" But his words fade off.

"Didya see the grave?" Top Dollar asks Grange.

The tall red vulpine nods, "Empty."

Skank suddenly turns to Grange pulling on the collar of his three piece suit, "Grave! What grave?" He shouts, "What 'bout my fuckin' grave?" Grange shoves the silver vulpine away, "Aargh! Man!"

"Three out of four. He's working his way back to this speed freak right here." Grange says.

Skank's voice is a bit choked, "It's not fair man. It was Funboy's fault. That boy couldn't keep his dick in his pants." He shouts, "T-bird, he comes in there," Skank imitates T-bird's whistle, "Waste 'em both...Now his ghost's gonna kill my ass next." Skank shouts in a state of delirium. Top dollar quickly jumps out of his chair slapping the fox back to reality before pushing him into Grange's arms who forces the fox into a seat where the silver Fox starts to cry, "Aaaaaah, his ghost gonna kill my ass next...his ghost gonna kill my ass next..."

"Hey!" The black vulpine shouts finally growing tired of all of this, "He ain't no ghost."

Suddenly Top Dollar's red furred sister enters the room, "They have all arrived."

Top Dollar looks to Grange, "Watch him. We might need him.

As the black fox leaves the room Grange takes a seat in front of Skank watching him closely...

**--Bill's Hot Dog stand--**

Katt sits at the stand eating the food she'd ordered some time ago, with Gabriel sitting on the counter next to her. She still wonders about whether or not seeing Fox was all in her head. As the young feline sits there, one of Bill's regular customers pulls up, surprisingly not in a police car...Caruso had decided that suspension wasn't really the end of the world. The black panther sits next to Katt who doesn't seem to acknowledge him at all...

"He likes this plain or with onions?" He says to Bill trying to get the kid's attention but to no avail, "Fine, don't talk to me."

Katt pauses a bit longer, "When someone's dead, the can't come back, can they?"

"That's what I though. Are you referring to anyone in particular?" Panther asks.

"You'll just think I'm nuts."

Panther sighs deeply, "Yeah, well, then maybe they'll have to lock us both up."

Though barely audible over the rains of the night, a light guitar sound can be heard carrying over the wind...

"You see him too?" Katt asks happy to hear she isn't loosing it.

"I saw...somebody. Maybe it was your fairy godfather." Caruso replies.

Katt lowers her head, "Fox didn't come back for me. He can't be my friend anymore because...I'm...alive."

Caruso notices that the young feline is on the verge of tears, "You want a friend to walk you home?" he asks.

Katt wipes her nose and simply nods...

**--Rooftop of Fox's old apartment--**

Fox still stands atop the city, allowing all of his anger and rage to be fuled by the furiously fast paced tune that blares from the guitar in his paws. The tune grows louder, and faster, as the music seems to carry all of his hatred with it through the air. The Crow sits by watching as the red sun finally sets far off on the horizon ushering in Devil's Night...one year from the day it had all happened. As his rage builds he finally smashes the instrument into the amp that spreads the sound all over the city repatedly until he finally throws both from the room. As his black feathered guide glides from the rooftop, Fox follows slowly behind to end all of the suffering by spreading his own...

**--Top Dollar's board room--**

Animals have gathered from all over the city for Devil's Night...all of the scum that seems to hide in the darkness sits at one large table. The table itself is laid over with all sorts of weapons, drugs that would fulfill the wildest fantasies of the most desperate addict, and more money that most people saw in one lifetime. As all of the animals sat by the door to the room opens and Top Dollar walks in, Grange and his sister close by, dragging Skank into the room with them. Skank is forced into a seat and the black vulpine, stands over his own chair...

"Boys...it seems our friend T-bird won't be joining us this evening, on account of a slight case of death..." He takes a moment to look around the table, "Well, well, well. Devil's Night is upon us again. Thought we'd throw a little party, start a bunch of fires, make a little profit."

The red vixen at his looks to Top Dollar, "I like the pretty lights."

"Problem is, it's all been done before, y'see what I'm sayin'?"

Suddenly a dark furred wolf speaks out, "That's no reason to quit."

"Wrong! Best reason to quit. Only reason to quit." Top Dollar says beginning to walk around the table, "A man has an idea. The idea attract others, like-minded. The idea expands. The idea becomes...an institution. What was the idea? See, that's what's been bothering me boys. But I'll tell you, when I used to think about the idea itself, I'd put a big old smile on my face..." He says stopping at the head of the table placing his paws on the table and leaning forward a bit looking over the animals at the table, "You see, gentlemen, greed is for amatures. Disorder, chaos, anarchy...now that's fun!"

"What about Devil's Night?" One of the animals shouts.

"What about it?" Top Dollar asks, "Fuck. I started the first fires in this god-damned city...before I knew it every charlatan and shitheel was imitating me. Shit, you know what they got now?" He asks, "Devil's Night greeting cards! Isn't that precious? _Tsk!_ Yeah, the idea has become an institution, boys. Time to move along."

"You don't want us to do "light my fire" time for the whole city?" Another animal asks.

"No. No, I want you to set a fire so goddamn big the gods'll notice us again, that's what I'm saying." Top Dollar reassures his, "I want all of you boys to be able to look me straight in the eye one more time and say "Are we havin' fun or what!" He shouts turning to Skank, "Hey, you! What's-your-name, Skank? You don't feel that?"

Skank stutters a bit, "I feel like a little worm on a big fuckin' hook!"

Top Dollar laughs out loud, "Fell like a little worm on a big fuckin' hook! Well, boy your momma must be damned proud of you." Suddenly a large Crow lands on the table startling Skank, "How the fuck did that thing get in here?" Top Dollar demands.

Everyone's attention is drawn to the furthest end of the room opposite to Top Dollar where Fox's white painted face is the only thing visible in the darkness, he slowly approaches the table, "Gentlemen!" He shouts getting everyone's attention, causing all of the animals to back away. Fox tosses a single chair out of his way and hoists himself, cross-legged onto the end of the table, causing Skank to panic and attempt to run, unfortunately he's caught by Grange.

"You're him huh?" Top Dollar asks, "The "avenger", the "killer of killers". Nice outfit, I'm not so sure about the face though. So what the fuck do you want?"

Fox simply looks to and points to Skank, "Just him."

"Well you can't have him." The black fox replies.

Fox stands up, not liking his answer, "Well...I see you've made your decision." He says holding his arms out wide, "Now let's see you enforce it."

"Ah, fuck. This is already boring the shit outta me. Kill 'im!"

Fox's body is instantly riddled with bullets from all of the soldiers around the table, driving his step back to the end of the table, causing his body to jolt from side to side with every deadly shot until he finally falls from the end of the table. The red vixen takes the moment to reach for the Crow, that for some reason is not shaken by the gunfire and still stands at the center of the table, but flies away as she approaches...

"Ooooh! That had to hurt!" Top Dollar laughs followed by everyone that was shooting, "Well! That's that..." He shouts taking a swig from a nearby bottle of Tequila.

"That guy was crazy!" One of the animals says while looking under the table for the body, "He's gone."

The soldier suddenly falls back from a large bullet wound that explodes from the back of his head, the others start to shoot under the table, but another soldier falls to his back and screams for a moment before he's pulled under the table and silenced. Fox quickly emerges from under the table firing wildly with an automatic pistol in each paw, causing all of the men in the room to take cover and keep firing. Top Dollar, noticing that all the bullets in the world seem to be doing little less that phasing the so called "avenger", he and his two red furred companions make a quick exit of the room leaving everyone inside to their fates, Skank quickly drops to the ground and scurries under the table. Eventually Fox's weapons run out of ammo from the relentless killing and he tosses them aside kicking a downed shotgun up into his paws, blowing away any animal that's close enough for the blasts. Eventually it too runs out, but, at this point he finds himself standing next to a small weapon rack filled with blades, and relieves it of two finely crafted Katanas. As several bullets still slice through the Fox's body he points one of his new weapons about the room, "You're all going to die." He shouts. The ensuing madness that built within him was driven by the thought of how many others had been tormented by the animals that stood before him. All the ammunition in the world was not going to stop him, as he moved about the room hacking and slashing through any animal that dared still stand in his way. Finally Fox stops to survey the room, the landscape has changed. Fresh blood and severed bodies lay strewn about the room, bullets have riddled the walls with holes and he can still hear the paranoid breathing of one animal. As Skank hides under the table the blade of a sword pierces the table just in front of him causing his to scream in fear and shuffle out from his hiding place hoping to get away, unfortunately running right into Fox's waiting paws...

"Guess it's not a good day to be a bad guy, huh, Skank?" He asks with a surprisingly calm face.

Skank looks around while breathing heavily, "I'm not Skank. There's Skank right there..." The silver vulpine says looking to a corps of a bullet riddled fox, "Skank's dead!"

As Fox backs the vulpine across the room his memories quickly flash back to the vulpine holding Krystal to the floor, "Right you are..." He whispers before tossing the fox through the window to the silver fox's back. After falling the 10 floors to the street Skank collides with a police car headed to the scene for a "shots fired" call.

"Hold it!" A policeman yells as a large number of them enter the room, "That's all she wrote! Move and we shoot!"

Fox puts his paws up, but smiles and shuffles to one side as they open fire diving though a window and landing on the fire escape. As soon as he stands several shots tear through his body from the rapid gunfire below, where a mass of officers have assembled. Caruso pulls up in his personal car, a big brown colored charger, but as he notices the familiar form of Fox climbing onto the rooftops via the fire escape. The vulpine rushes across the rooftops as a helicopter flies after him firing it's larger guns some of the bullets hit him stumbling him with their greater force than the ones he'd previously been hit with. Caruso follows him on the streets below as Fox leaps from rooftop to rooftop. The helicopter hovering over him keeps shouting for him to stop running but he soon finds a gap between buildings that cannot be jumped, instead he throws himself off of the building. His landing is slightly softened by a small bed shack made by a bum sitting by a barrel fire, who runs away in fright as something falling from the heavens smashed thought his small sheet metal built home. As Fox gets to his feet he sees Caruso in his car with and opened door waving at him...

"Come on! Move it!" He yells, "My advice...next time duck."

Fox takes a moment but stumbles to the vehicle jumping into the passenger seat, Caruso drives along the alleyways but stops before the street as several cruisers pass by...

"With so many cops, you'd think they were giving away free doughnuts." Panther says but his attention is soon drawn to the seat that Fox is no longer sitting in, "I knew you were gonna do that?"

**--Top Dollar's Limo--**

Top Dollar, his sister, and Grange all sit in the back seat of the large,vehicle...Top Dollar looks out at the passing city with content...

"Look at that out there---the whole city oughtta be in flames by now. They sky outta be red."

Grange sighs, "So that, was the late great Fox McCloud."

The red vixen next to Top Dollar looks to the black fox, "He has power, but it is power you can take from him."

"I like him already." Top Dollar replies.

"The Crow is his link between the land of the living, and the realm of the dead." The vixen replies.

Grange thought for a moment, "So kill the Crow...and destroy the man."

**--Fox walking the streets--**

Fox walks aimlessly along the streets slowly. His memories slowly taking him over and making his tears fall. As he walks Fox allows Tin Tin's coat to fall to the sidewalk He pauses and leans against a nearby scaffolding where a recently burned building has been set to be rebuilt. He's weary from all the killing, he only ever wants to see her face again...

"I'm...coming home Krystal." He whispers looking to the clouds.

As he stands there several young kids in Halloween costumes run around the fox laughing, though it is a sad laugh he finds a way to return the gesture. And as the little ones run out of sight, the whole thing leaves a pain filled smile on his face. The fox cannot let go of the pain that holds him to this world every step he takes seems to make his memories come back with more force than ever before. His dreary trudge leads him to his resting place, next to Krystal where he is meant to be. There curled up against his grave he finds a small pink feline sleeping peacefully. He kneels and gently pulls on her shoe. Katt slowly yawns as she sits up...

"You're gonna say I shouldn't be in a cemetery in the middle of the night, right?"

Fox smiles, "Safest place in the world to be."

"It's 'cause everyone's dead. I knew you'd come here."

"It's really late Katt." Fox replies a bit worried.

"You didn't say goodbye." Katt shouts sadly.

Fox sighs, "Katt...You're just going to have to forgive me for that."

"And you're never coming back?"

Fox thinks for a moment, and removes Krystal's ring that he's tied around his neck and hold it up, "I gave this to Krytal once." He says reaching over and placing it around the feline's neck, "I think she'd want you to have it. This way you'll always remember her."

Katt looks at the ring for a moment before reaching out and hugging the vulpine, "I'll never take it off..." She whispers with tears in here eyes, "I better go sneak back into the house." She says walking away, "bye..."

As she walks away Fox can only watch, he's far too sad to say anything in return as he lays against Krystal's grave...waiting to see her again. As he lies there Katt begins to head out, walking past the old church but, as she dose a large red fox grabs her from behind placing a paw over her muzzle...

"Shhh, shhh. Take it easy, sweetheart." Grange whispers as he drags the helpless feline into the church.


	6. Chapter 6

**---Chapter 6---**

**--inside the church--**

Top Dollar sits by watching his sister fiddle with the ring around Katt's neck, a katana in a black case is strapped to his back. He slowly reaches out and lifts the ring slightly studying the gold band...

"What's that?" He asks, "Some sort of souvenir there, from your pal?" He asks forcibly pulling it from the feline's neck, "I'll just keep this for good luck, whaddya say?"

The red vixen places her paw on the young feline's chin tilting her head upward a bit as to stare into her eyes, "Her eyes...are so innocent." The vixen says with a voice that slightly frightens the young cat.

Outside Fox leans more into Krystal's gravestone, waiting for his moment that he can finally see her again or even hear her voice. He clutches Katt's flowers as he allows his body to sink onto the wet muddy ground as the rain picks back up. The heartbroken fox sheds a few more tears as he closes his eyes and waits for the cold sleep of death to take him over when something washes over his closed eyelids. His black feathered guide sending him visions of Katt being dragged into the old church. Fox instantly leaps to his feet, there'll be plenty of time to die again later. The insides of the church were dimly lit, it seems as if the place has not seen visitors for some years, several streams of steadily falling rain water from the roof can tell just how unmanaged the building is. Though Fox cannot see anyone he can see a small red dot on his chest, a clear sign that the criminals had not yet learned that a bullet could not kill him. Unfortunately the dot of the laser scope suddenly shot about and a shout rang through the open church...after the shot...a black fox slowly steps out from the shadows seemingly fading into existence from nowhere...

"Quick impression for you..." Top Dollar says crossing his wrists and flapping his paws like wings, "Caw, caw! Bang! Fuck! I'm dead!" He shouts imitating the bird being shot and falling out of the sky.

Fox ignores the cynicism and looks to the vulpine with deadly intent, "Give me the girl, and I'll let you walk out of here."

Top Dollar places his paw under his chin in thought, "Well, well. Who don't you just gimme a minute to think about that, huh?"

The injured crow flaps around on the ground attempting to get back into the air but, the bullet fired from Grange who hides still in the pulpit out of sight having damaged the animal's wing...

Top Dollar suddenly stops and looks back to Fox, "Nah, fuck it!" He says whipping out a small revolver and shooting Fox in the shoulder.

Noticing that this shot actually hurt, Fox runs his paw very gingerly over the wound and looks at his bloody fingers. He grimaces a bit from the pain before collapsing to his knees...

"Well, well, well. It does seem to me that your little life has undergone a rather singificant change in the past few minutes, wouldn't you agree?" Top Dollar says walking casually over to the injured Fox and punching him in the face with a force that drives the wounded fox to his back, he takes the moment to run his gloved paw over Fox's wound, "Well, for a ghost, you bleed just fine."

From the distance Grange notices that the crow is only injured trying to get off the ground, "It's still alive."

"Well then kill it!" Top Dollar shouts.

As Grange takes aim at the Crow a shot sounds not from his rifle but from another source as a shotgun slug rips through the corner of the podium mere inches from the fox's face. A black furred panther stands in the doorway of the church...he lets off several more shots as Fox stumbles back to cover behind a small wall near the door of the church. Caruso peeks around the corner firing several times as Grange and Top Dollar return the fire. Top Dollars sister takes the moment to rush out and scoop the injured Crow into her paws before rushing through another door which leads to the church's bell tower. Suddenly a slug makes contact with the side of Grange's skull plastering a large red splotch onto the wall behind him, Top Dollar takes the opening to run. As Caruso sits there with Fox he realizes his shotgun is out of ammunition...

"Ah shit!" He shouts throwing it, "Well, just came by to pay my respects and here you are getting all shot up again."

Fox winces in pain, "They've got Katt."

"How many?" Panther asks.

"Two more..." Fox replies gasping in pain, "I can handle it, don't worry."

The officer laughs, "I'm not worried. Look, here's the plan---you stay in front and when they run out of ammo, I'll arrest them."

"That sounds like a great plan, there's just one problem." Fox says looking to his shoulder.

"Shit!" The black feline shouts, "You're bleeding all over the place. I thought, y'know, you were invincible."

Fox looks at the panther, "I was. I'm not any more."

The black feline sighs, why can't this all go right for once? "Well, I guess you really will need my help, won't ya? C'mon." He says helping the injured fox to his feet and leading him to the bell tower.

Half way up the stairs that lead up from one wall to another several stories Top Dollar stops with the red vixen and pulls Katt over to him handing the vixen his gun, "Here. You take that." He says kissing the vixen before pulling Katt along as he rushes up the stairs.

Fox and Caruso rush into the stairwell only to have several bullets fly by one of which strikes the panther in the leg who collapses to the ground supporting himself against the wall, Fox checks the wound then looks the cat in the eyes...

"You were supposed to stay behind me."

The panther grimaces in pain, "Yeah...I think I fucked up."

Fox slowly makes his way up the stairs a flight at a time until the red vixen stops him holding his black feathered guild in one arm and a gun in the other, "This is all the power you ever had..." She says looking to the crow, "Now, it is mine. Pity, there's not more time..." She pauses to aim her weapon at Fox, "...for us."

As she begins to pull the trigger the crow suddenly lurches to life leaping onto the vixens's face pecking and clawing at her eyes. As the bird's assault ensues the vixen screams in pain and flails about blindly as she drops the bird which still clutches a severed eye in it's beak. The blinded vixen stumbles and eventually falls over the railing of the stairs, plummeting to her death. Fox continues after Top Dollar. From the roof Fox can hear the young cat struggling against the black vulpine...

"Help! Fox! I'm scared!" She shouts down the stairwell, "Lemme go!"

Top Dollar rushes out onto the roof of the church, the chapel is several stories up. For a moment the black fox thinks he's outran Fox but, as he turns away from the stairwell he freezes to notice the injured vulpine standing in front of them. As they face off the rain picks up into a torrential downpour. Fox holds out his arms showing that he is unarmed as he approaches...

"Let her go!" He's forced to yell over the lighting and heavy rainfall, "You can have me. I won't fight you!"

"Fair enough!" Top Dollar shouts tossing Kat aside and pulling his sword.

"NO!" Fox screams as the pink feline slides toward the edge of the roof, where she luckily finds a hold.

Top Dollar rushes the vulpine swiping at him in expert fashion with the elegantly crafted katana, several times it's tip bites into the injured vulpine's flesh...however as he relentlessly assaults Fox, the injured vulpine ducks a swipe of the weapon kicking the black fox in the chest causing him to stumble back. Fox then notices the steeple of the church, a long, tall lightning rod-like final cross, that seems to resemble a rough sword of sorts. For grasps the object by it's base just as a bolt of lightning strikes it, sending a course of electricity through his body which causes him to scream in pain as he rips the thing from it's stone foundation in time to block Top Dollar's next strike. The attacks keep coming, neither showing a loss in footing on the slippery, shingled roof, but, Fox's strength slowly gives out, as he cannot block out the screams of "help" coming from Katt who's grip gets weaker as the frosty air and icy rain bite at her grip. A few moments later Top Dollar's sword slashes into Fox's arm causing him to drop his weapon and after dodging another swipe of the weapon, the black vulpine's boot strikes him in the ribs...Fox falls to the rooftop rolling down near Katt's position, the fight doesn't matter any more as Fox reaches for the feline's paw, "Katt!"

As he reaches down to her the feline notices the black fox behind him, "Look out!" But her warning is too late.

Fox's back arches his head toward the skies in a silent howl of agony as the curved black of Top Dollar's weapon bursts from the his side just under his ribs. As Top Dollar pulls the weapon free Fox falls forward catching himself against a stone chimeny like structure and turns to face the black Fox, gasping in pain...

Top Dollar twirls his blade cockily, "You know, my daddy used to say--- "every man's got a devil and you can't rest 'til you find him". What happened back there with you and your girl, I cleared that building. Hell, nothing happens in this town without my say-so. So I'm sorry if I spoiled your wedding plans there, friend. But, if it's any consolation to you, you have put a smile on my face. You got spirit son, I am gonna miss you." The black fox states readying himself to finish Fox off.

"I have something for you..." Fox half whispers with tears in his eyes, "I don't want it anymore." As Top Dollar drops his guard to hear Fox's last words the vulpine lurches out placing his paw on the side of Top Dollar's head. An unimaginable level of pain and torment shoot into the black fox's body all at once, causing him to drop his sword, "Thirty hours of pain!" Fox yells over the rolling thunder placing another paw on the animal's face causing his body to convulse in waves of pure agony, "Thirty hours of suffering!" He shouts, as Top Dollar is forced to relive Krystal's time in the ICU, "All at once!" Fox pauses for a moment, "All for you!"

Fox releases his paws from the black fox's head as he begins to mindlessly stumble back toward the roof's edge foaming at the mouth...he is most likely dead of shock before ever falling. The fox's body is caught a short distance down as his body is impaled on the horns of a gargoyle statue. Fox quickly but painfully helps Katt to the roof hugging her after he's certain she's safe. The two make their way back town the stairs...Katt acting as a sort of crutch to help Fox walk. As they spot Caruso sitting against the wall Fox looks to the pink feline...

"Go help him."

Katt rushes down the stairs and kneels next to the injured feline, "Are you gonna be alright?" She asks receving a nod in reply as Fox slowly and painfully finds his way down to them where he takes a seat on the floor.

"Ah. God, I need a cigarette." The black furred panther says fishing his pack of smokes out of his jacket which Fox pulls from his paw, "Everyone else dead?"

Fox pulls a cigarette from the pack with his mouth before tossing it back, "You helped me..." He replies tapping his head, "What you kept in here saved me. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." The panther replies as fox lights up the cigarette, "I've been meaning to come to church anyway." He says as Fox places the cigarette to the panthers lips, he only takes a single drag before spitting the thing out, "I'm quitting as of now...If I live that is."

Fox stands as he hears sirens blare, "Stay with him until help comes." He says to Katt.

Katt and Caruso both look to his injured leg, "He'll be okay, right?" She asks looking up to find that Fox is no longer there, "Fox?"

"Huh..." Caruso scoffs, "He does that a lot."

Outside Fox weakly staggers to Krystal's grave falling to the ground, he manages to drag himself to using the slab of stone as a back rest. As he sits there shivering and cold, he finds that the pain is gone, he no longer feels any of the agony from Krystal's memories having given them all to Top Dollar in that last moment of the fox's life. He barely finds the strength to move anymore as he wraps himself in his own arms...

"Krystal..." He wispers as his eyelids fall slothfully over his eyes.

Suddenly he can feel something warm and gentle brush against the fur of his cheek. His head seems to involuntarily rub into the warm sensation. As he lightly opens his eyes his tears slowly fall from his eyes. Kneeling before him in an almost luminecant white gown is a light blue furred vixen that smiles brightly at him as she gingerly pulls her paw from his cheek, "Krystal..." He voices in disbelief. The vixen moves in closer until Fox can feel the warmth of her lip against his, filling his body with the same energizing warmth before standing and reaching her paw out to him...

"Come on Fox." Her sweet voice echoes, "Let's go home."

**--Outside the church--**

As the paramedics wheel Caruso out of the church on a stretcher Katt walks alongside the injured panther, a gray wolf in the background can be heard...

"Alright, what the fuck's going on in there?" Wolf shouts.

"Multiple homicides." A cop replies.

Panther rolls his eyes at the rude wolf's demeanor, "At least it stopped raining."

"Hey..." Katt smiles, "It can't rain all the time."

Panther's smile fades as he notices the gray wolf making his way over to the him, "No! I don't believe it! This nightmare your fault, Caruso?!" Wolf yells.

Panther turns to Katt, "You go on home."

"You wanna tel me what's going on?" Wolf demands.

Panther pulls the lupine toward him by the collar of his coat, "Your vigilante's up on the roof..."

**--The graveyard--**

As Katt makes her way toward the site she notices that oddly, Fox's grave is perfectly in tact, and a single crow stands on top of the cross shaped headstone. She slowly walks over to the bird whom hops toward her and drops Krystal's ring in her paw before leaping from the headstone and vanishing into the clear blue skies as though it had never been...

_If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, and people die......but true love is forever._

**---The End---

* * *

**

Special thanks go out to the creator of The Crow...Jamse O'barr as well as the creators of Star Fox, without them my life would be boring.

The footsteps in the darkness

**-SkullFox-**


	7. Credits

**-Credits-**

_**This fic was dedicated one "Brandon Bruce Lee" **_

_**Born: February 1, 1965 **_

_**Died: March 31, 1993**_

_**Shot and killed on the original set of "The Crow" He originally stared in the move as Eric Draven.**_

**Fox McCloud** ...... originally Eric Draven

**Krystal** ...... originally Shelly Webster

**Panther Caruso** ...... originally Officer Albrecht

**Katt Monroe** ...... originally Sarah

**Bill Gray** ...... originally Mickey the Hot dog guy

**Arlex Stone** ...... originally Top Dollar

**Wolf O'Donnell **...... originally Detective Torres

**Garex Stancen** ...... originally Gideon the pawnbroker

**Drayvn Dark** ...... originally Tin Tin

**Falco Lombardi** ...... originally T-bird

**Silver** ...... originally Skank

**Xander Cramm** ...... originally Funboy

**Roxsanne "Roxy" Porter** ...... originally Officer Rose

**Creed Tasser** ...... originally Grange

**Rose** ...... Mika "Top Dollar's Sister"

**Author Notes:** Well it took long enough but, this was just to clear up some confusion with the parts in the story...as well as give credit to a great actor cut down before he could ever reach his prime. Thanks again to all you who followed the Fic and I hope it inspired some that haven't seen it to watch the movie. Thanks again, you're all the greatest...C'ya next time all.

_The Footsteps in the Darkness - SkullFox_


End file.
